Re: Kombu

Peggy, you wrote: I have Hashimotos Thyroiditis and was told not to eat kelp.
Does anyone know if Kombu or other seaweeds are also verboten and why?
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This is interesting, because when I was diagnosed with the opposite problem,
hyperthyroidism, the endocrinologist was very critical of kelp and asked if
it was included in my diet. (It wasn't, but I had accumulated a lot of iodine
in other ways, such as taking a daily 100%-RDA-type vitamin/mineral pill
for decades.) The Food Additives Book says kombu, arame, hijiki and wakame
are *all* regarded as kelp, brown algae. Nori and Irish moss are red algae.
Sea lettuce is a green alga. The objective is apparently for you not to take
in excessive iodine. The RDA is only 150 mcg (and the way the RDAs were set,
that amount is more than most people need). A teaspoon of iodized salt or
salt substitute has 400 mcg of iodine, per Pennington's Food Values book;
there is no listing for seaweed. Vegetables grown here in California take in
iodine from the soil. There is also a good measure of iodine in our tap
water. The doc said iodine is even being added to bread, but it isn't listed
as an ingredient. He made me realize that iodine is the last thing I need
more of! I don't know what the process is by which excess iodine adversely
affects a slow thyroid gland, as in Hashimoto's. I do understand how it can
adversely affect a fast one: by causing even more thyroid hormone to be made.
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